The Yawning Grave
by Five Dollar Mixtape
Summary: Lynx is a cat from Twoleg Place, she but she hates it. She feels an attraction to the forest, but she also knows that she can't leave Twoleg Place. With mysterious forces guiding her to leave her home and another telling her to stay, and a new thing that she doesn't even know about calling her to the forest, she has no idea what she's supposed to do.
1. Allegiances and Chapter One

**Allegiances**

 _ **Darkened Shadows**_

 **Leader-** **Euclid-** A white she-cat with golden yellow eyes. Wears a golden gem around her neck.

 **Healer-** **Sunrise-** A light ginger she-cat with blue eyes. Wears a blue gem around her neck.

 **Forces-**

 **Flint-** A light gray tom with dark gray speckles and copper eyes. Wears a copper gem around his neck.

 **Mithra-** A dark brown and black tabby she-cat with orange eyes. Wears an orange gem around his neck.

 _Trainee- Phoenix_

 **Ra-** A ginger tom with darker paws, muzzle, ears, tail, chest, and belly with golden eyes. Wears a golden gem around his neck.

 _Trainee- Trinity_

 **Sage-** A light brown and white tabby she-cat with green eyes. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 _Trainee- Vida_

 **Owl-** A white tom with black specks and green eyes. Wears a green gem around his neck.

 **Moon-** A black she-cat with a white belly, chest, muzzle, and paws with hazel eyes. Wears a light green gem around her neck.

 **Olympia-** A pure, snow white she-cat with one green eye and one blue eye. Wears a blue gem around her neck.

 **Daliah-** A black she-cat with light gray paws and ears with green eyes. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 **Yukon-** A white and light gray tabby tom with hazel eyes. Wears a light green gem around his neck.

 **Trainees-**

 **Phoenix-** A ginger tom with amber eyes. Wears an amber gem around his neck.

 **Trinity-** A black she-cat with silver hairs and green eyes. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 **Vida-** A blue-gray she-cat with blue eyes. Wears a blue gem around her neck.

 **Mothers-**

 **Willow-** A smoked gray she-cat with bright green eyes. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 **Kits-**

 **Lynx-** A tipped black she-kit with golden eyes. Wears a golden gem around her neck.

 **Dusk-** A dark gray she-cat with black paws, ears, tail tip, and chest with amber eyes. Wears an amber gem around her neck.

 _ **Golden Sunsets**_

 **Leader-** **Alpha-** A light and dark gray tabby tom with green eyes. Wears a green gem around his neck.

 **Healer-** **Flip-** A cream and ginger tom with dark eyes. Wears a black gem around his neck.

 **Forces-**

 **Ajax-** A large, ginger tom with cream paws and blue eyes. Wears a blue gem around his neck.

 **Zenith-** A ginger and black tabby she-cat with green eyes. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 _Trainee- Axel_

 **Fade-** A white she-cat with cream paws, chest, tail tip, and muzzle. Wears a yellow gem around her neck.

 **Calypso-** A blue-gray tom with green eyes. Wears a green gem around his neck.

 _Trainee- Nesca_

 **Dior-** A tortoiseshell tom with amber eyes. Wears an amber gem around his neck.

 **Blaze-** A dark brown and black tabby she-cat with ice blue eyes. Wears a light blue gem around his neck.

 **Trainees-**

 **Axel-** A tipped russet tom with copper eyes. Wears a copper gem around his neck.

 **Nesca-** A calico she-cat with amber eyes. Wears an amber gem around her neck.

 **Mothers-**

 **Caesara-** A small, bicolor ginger and white she-cat with one green eye and one blue eye. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 _ **Storming Clouds**_

 **Leader-** **Nicosia-** A russet colored she-cat with black ears and chest with green eyes. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 **Healer-** **Kael-** A black tom with bright blue eyes. Wears a blue gem around his neck.

 **Forces-**

 **Cosimia-** A black and cream tabby with dark blue eyes. Wears a dark blue gem around their neck.

 **Faye-** A white and dark brown she-cat with dark eyes. Wears a black gem around her neck.

 **Laili-** A black she-cat with yellow eyes. Wears a yellow gem around her neck.

 _Trainee- Occult_

 **Dagon-** A dark gray tom with a very thin tail. Wears a light green gem around his neck.

 **Fonx-** A she-cat with light brown fur and golden eyes. Wears a golden gem around her neck.

 **Galileo-** A dark brown tom with dark green eyes. Wears a dark green gem around his neck.

 _Trainee- Wicca_

 **Kaddish-** A gray tom with black ears and dark eyes. Wears a black gem around his neck.

 **Trainees-**

 **Occult-** A black she-cat with bright green eyes. Wears a bright green gem around her neck.

 **Wicca-** A white tom with dark blue eyes. Wears a dark blue gem around his neck.

 **Mothers-**

 **Pele-** A rusty colored she-cat with golden eyes. Wears a golden gem around her neck.

 **Kits-**

 **Satya-** A russet tom with yellow eyes. Wears a yellow gem around his neck.

 **Warrior-** A small, red she-cat with amber eyes. Wears an amber gem around her neck.

 _ **Burnt Ashes**_

 **Leader-** **Bacardi-** A black tom with gray markings around his green eyes. Wears a green gem around his neck.

 **Healer-** **Ixkin-** A dark brown and black tabby she-cat with dark eyes. Wears a black gem around her neck.

 **Forces-**

 **Cadyna-** A gray she-cat with a kinked tail. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 **Haven-** A small, light brown she-cat with green eyes. Wears a green gem around her neck.

 _Trainee- Flair_

 **Daegan-** A black tom with bright blue eyes. Wears a bright blue gem around her neck.

 **Tahki-** A ginger and white tabby with hazel eyes. Wears a light green gem around her neck.

 **Oblivion-** A black she-cat with a gray chest, belly, and paws with copper eyes. Wears a copper gem around her neck.

 **Trainees-**

 **Flair-** A ginger tom with bright amber eyes. Wears an amber gem around her neck.

 _ **Forest Cats (HunterClan)**_

 **Leader-** **Cliffstar-** A dark brown tom with black paws and golden eyes.

 **Deputy-** **Clovershade-** A dark gray tom with brown ears, tail, and muzzle with copper eyes.

 **Medicine Cat-** **Forestflower-** An albino she-cat with violet eyes.

 _Apprentice- Covepaw_

 **Warriors-**

 **Honeyspring-** A ginger and cream she-cat with blue eyes.

 **Cavegrass-** A dark gray tom with shining green eyes.

 **Blazewhisker-** A shaded brown tom with amber eyes.

 **Juniperleap-** A dark brown she-cat with a white chest and ears with bright green eyes.

 _Apprentice- Wolfpaw_

 **Sparrowrise-** A light brown tom with black patches and hazel hazel eyes.

 _Apprentice- Poolpaw_

 **Apprentices-**

 **Wolfpaw-** A black tom with white paws, muzzle, and chest with amber eyes.

 **Covepaw-** A light gray she-cat with pale blue eyes.

 **Poolpaw-** A blue-gray she-cat with dark eyes.

* * *

A tipped, black she-kit with half lidded, golden eyes watched carefully as her littermate waited anxiously in the clearing, the golden gem around her neck glittering in the sunlight. Said littermate was a dark gray she-kit with black paws, ears, tail tip, and chest with amber eyes with an amber gem around her neck. "What're you waiting for, Dusk?" the black she-kit asked, letting out a yawn.

"Trinity told me that she'd teach me a battle move or two," Dusk explained happily.

The black cat huffed. "We're almost five moons, can't you wait?" the gray and black she-kit shook her head.

"No, we should be prepared for training!" the other kit was unconvinced. "Come on, Lynx! If you asked, I'm sure Trinity would be willing to teach you, too!"

"I think my Teacher would want me to wait for me to become a Trainee," Lynx argued, closing her golden eyes and enjoying the dim sunlight on her fur. Her tail lazily flicked back and forth.

Kits weren't even allowed to leave their Gang's alley, let alone start training. Of course, most Trainees taught kits some small, defensive fighting moves, and no one bothered to break that tradition. Lynx, herself, had gained the basics of the moves from watching them be taught to Dusk.

"Come on, Lynx!" Dusk begged, padding over to her littermate, her Spirit Gem steady on her chest. The black kit opened one eye to look up at her. The enigmatic kit was standing over her with one paw raised, ready to shake her with it. "Please just do it with me? Once?"

She was blocking her sunlight. Lynx let out a sigh, Dusk was going to stand there until her fur was cool, anyways. She sat up and shook herself while her littermate let out a cheer.

"Just once," she reminded, stretching and letting out a yawn.

"Just once," Dusk mocked, padding back and forth excitedly. "Trinity is going to love this! You never really talk to any of the Trainees, so now that I convinced you into training, she'll be bragging about this to Phoenix and Vida for days!"

"Will she really?" Lynx asked, stretching her toes apart on one of her paws absently.

"Yeah! She keeps asking me if you hate Darkened Shadows, and I have to keep saying 'no, she's just antisocial'," Dusk meowed. Lynx hummed in response.

 _It's Twoleg Place that I'm not fond of,_ she thought, looking at the brick wall across from her. She thought that the place was boring: it was all stone and metal and loud noises and Twolegs.

She wondered where Moon and Owl were from. The two cats weren't always part of Darkened Shadows: they had found the group in the middle of a fight with another Gang called Burnt Ashes. Euclid, their leader, had laid eyes on them and immediately claimed that they looked like a cat that used to be part of their group that had had kits, but the kits were never found. They were welcomed into the group with open paws.

" _But wouldn't they betray us easily?"_ _Dusk had asked, tilting her head._

 _Their mother, a smoked gray she-cat named Willow, had shaken her head. "Gangs work on bloodlines: a group based on how willing you are to put your family before yourself. Moon and Owl are family just as much as the rest of us are."_

And that was that. Lynx and Dusk never questioned the two cat's easy acceptance into the group again. Besides, they had seemed loyal enough to Lynx, and if they had an idea for a different place for her to go to, even if just for a bit, then she was all for them being part of the Gang.

"Hey, Trinity!" Dusk meowed loudly, snapping the other kit out of her thoughts. Lynx looked up to see a black she-cat with silver hairs in her pelt and green eyes with a green Spirit Gem padding into the alley, right behind her Teacher, a ginger tom named Ra. She carried a bird whose feathers were coated in mud, but the feathers could easily be plucked to get to the meat under it. Trinity nodded to them before dropping her prey in a small pile that was in the shade. She dipped her head to Ra, then bounded over to the kits, her Spirit Gem bouncing on her chest.

"Hey, Dusk!" Trinity meowed, before turning her eyes to Lynx. She blinked. "Did you…" she trailed off.

"Yup!" Dusk nudged her littermate with her shoulder, but she barely moved. "Lynx will be learning with me!"

A smile emerged on Trinity's face. "Great!" she meowed. "So, first things first, how much do you know, Lynx?"

"I've seen what Dusk has learned," she responded. Trinity nodded.

"Alright. When you actually do them, don't get frustrated if you didn't do it right," the she-cat meowed. "You've only seen them, after all." Lynx nodded.

"Okay," Trinity began, "according to the stories, we learned this one from the Great Spirit himself." Trinity leapt at Lynx, making her eyes widen. The larger cat swerved in the air and landed on her paws beside her, her teeth gently sinking into the fur on the kit's tail. She quickly ran around the kit, making her trip and land with a soft 'thump' on a tail that was placed in front of her. "And that's how you do it," Trinity's voice sounded above the kit.

"That looks hard," Dusk complained.

"It's a lot easier than it looks," the Trainee meowed. "Lynx, you want to try first?"

Lynx got to her paws. "Sure," she meowed. She focused her attention on Dusk, getting into a crouch and leaping. Instead of landing behind her, she landed on her shoulders, forcing her littermate's chin into the concrete below her.

"Ow," Dusk complained. Trinity was laughing behind them.

"Technically, that works," she meowed, "but that's not really what we're going for." Trinity padded a bit closer to Lynx as she got off of her littermate. "Focus on the spot where you want to land, then pounce." The kit nodded, turning her attention to the spot next to her littermate's tail.

She got into a crouch, her eyes still trained on that spot. "Use your tail to turn in the air," Trinity ordered. Lynx nodded, pouncing. She soared over Dusk, lashing her tail to turn her around and land next to the gray cat's tail. She sunk her teeth into the fur before running around the kit, making her trip over her paws that she had just stood up on.

"Perfect!" Trinity praised.

* * *

A black shape watched the cats, his tail elegantly curled around his paws. He, himself, was the picture of elegance: his fur was groomed to perfection, not a strand out of place. His ice blue eyes stood out against his fur (as did the gem in his chest that was the same color), but seemed to fit with the personality that was leaking out of his stance. Even the world around him was duller than the living world.

The Great Spirit knew that the black kit's… _dislike_ of Twoleg Place was a thing that must be fixed. Something that he would need to use everything he had to fix. Her Teacher would be carefully selected, he would send omens, and if needed, would threaten her.

Still, he doubted if it was enough.

 **So, this is based off of a song by Lord Huron that's called, shockingly, The Yawning Grave. It's a really good song, you should listen to it. Do it. _Do it._**


	2. Chapter Two

Dusk batted her ears with a paw yet again. Again. Again.

"What did I do?" Lynx asked, looking up at her littermate.

"You're being boring," Dusk meowed, before going back to gently batting her ears. Again. Again. Again.

"How do I not be boring?" Lynx asked lazily.

"Be excited that we're starting training today?" her littermate tried. Again.

"Wew." Again.

"Try harder."

"I am so excited. I cannot _wait_ to find out who will teach me how to fight and hunt for Darkened Shadows," Lynx meowed with no enthusiasm.

"Better!" Dusk meowed.

"I don't see how you aren't excited, Lynx," Willow meowed, licking her ears to fix the misplaced fur from Dusk's paws. Her green Spirit Gem hung just above Lynx's head. "Every cat I know was bouncing out of their pelts to meet their Teachers, at the very least."

"Well, it'll be either Olympia, Daliah, Owl, Moon, or Yukon," Dusk meowed.

Willow shrugged, letting her kit go. "The Gangs are fairly small at the moment."

"But we don't know which one it'll be!" Dusk argued. "And I wanna be the best cat in the Forces there is! Out of all the gangs! I want the Great Spirit himself to come down and congratulate me for working so hard to be that good of a fighter!"

Their mother purred. "Those are some high aspirations."

"She knows," Lynx meowed, sitting up. Willow pulled Dusk into her grasp and immediately set to work, trying to make the hyperactive she-cat look nice for her first meeting with her Teacher. Dusk lifted a paw towards Lynx again.

"Don't you dare," Willow growled, but there was no malice in her tone. Dusk set her paw down and let her mother finish grooming her pelt. When she was done, Willow gave both of them a quick once-over before nodding. "You two do know that if you need anything, and I do mean _anything_ , I'll always be here for you, right?"

The kits nodded. "You've told us that a few times every moon," Lynx meowed.

"Well, you have to know that I mean it," Willow purred. She lifted her head. "Here comes Euclid."

The kits turned their heads to see a white she-cat with golden eyes padding towards them. A few scars littered her pelt, including one that went across her chest that sat right underneath her golden Spirit Gem. She was the pure picture of intimidation: she even made Dusk stop fidgeting and Lynx sit up a bit straighter. The white pelted leader dipped her head to Willow before looking down at the kits and letting out a purr.

"You can relax," she meowed. "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm your leader. I'm just here to take you to meet your Teachers." Lynx nodded, forcing herself to relax. "Follow me," Euclid ordered, padding in another direction. Dusk and Lynx followed at her heels. Their leader led them just outside of the alley, where Lynx was amazed to see more sunlight than she ever had, and more buildings than ever. There was just some more cement in front of her, but to her left she could see a street with Monsters racing across it, their pelts shining in the sun.

In front of the three cats were two more: one was a white tom with black specks in his fur with green eyes with a green Spirit Gem, and the other was a black she-cat with a white belly, chest, muzzle, and paws with hazel eyes with a light green Spirit Gem. "Dusk, meet Owl." The tom nodded in greeting. "He will be your Teacher. Congratulations on becoming a Trainee." Dusk's Spirit Gem glowed brighter as she padded forward towards her Teacher, craning her neck, before it dimmed back down to it's normal, non-light filled state.

"Hi!" Dusk meowed.

Owl purred. "Hello."

"Lynx, meet Moon." The she-cat waved her tail. "She will be your Teacher. Congratulations on becoming a Trainee." Euclid disappeared into the alley as Lynx looked her Teacher over, her own Spirit Gem glowing brighter before the light inside faded. _Maybe I'll get out of Twoleg Place sooner than I thought…_

"Nice to meet you, Lynx," Moon meowed, curling her tail around her paws. Lynx just let out a hum and nodded her head, padding a bit closer to her Teacher. Moon's face gained a curious look to it.

"I'm going to take Dusk to see our part of Twoleg Place," Owl meowed. "Want to come with?" he asked Moon. His littermate shook his head.

"No, I have something in mind for Lynx," she meowed. Owl nodded, turning and setting off for the end of the other alley. Moon followed after him, their Trainees following at their heels. They stopped at the edge of this alley. More and more buildings stretched up towards the sky.

"Well, see you later, Lynx!" Dusk meowed.

Lynx nodded. "Bye, Dusk." Owl and Dusk padded left, and Moon went towards her right. Lynx followed after her Teacher, absently taking in the sights and sounds as she avoided Twolegs.

"So," Moon began, "I've noticed that you don't think Twoleg Place is the best place in the world, but it's what we have." Lynx didn't respond. "Anyway, I wanted to show you a few things that might change your mind."

"Like what?" Lynx asked.

"Patience is a virtue!" Moon meowed, holding her head high. "I think you'll enjoy it though, trust me." Lynx nodded.

Moon led her through the twists and turns of Twoleg Place, which just served to confuse Lynx. _The tour is for another day,_ Moon had told her. _Today, let's just make you like home._ Moon turned into another alley, one that was shorter than the one she had grown up in, but it was much wider. There were wires above them that formed into platforms and…

"They're called stairs," Moon filled in for her. "Usually, Twolegs have them inside, but sometimes they're outside like this." The older she-cat bunched her muscles and leapt, landing on the platform above her. She turned her head to look at Lynx. "Come on, you can do it."

Lynx took a deep breath, her eyes focused on where she wanted to land. She crouched, then pounced, her paws catching on the edges of the platform. She felt teeth sink into her scruff and pull her up the rest of the way. She panted, looking up at her Teacher. Moon smiled at her.

"See? Told you," she meowed. "Now this part is easier." Moon led the way as she climbed up the stairs, then turned to pad across the platform and turned again to climb up another set of stairs. Lynx quickly followed after her. The stairs, as she had said, were much easier than leaping up to the platform. It didn't take them long to reach the roof of the building. When they did, Lynx took a look around.

From here, she could see everything. The Twolegs walking next to the street, dogs at their sides, walls that had been painted in different colors, Twolegs sitting outside to eat… it took her breath away.

"That's not even the best part," her Teacher told her. "Look up." Lynx tilted her head towards the sky, to see the tints or oranges and yellows staining the buildings that came with sunrise. They also tinted the sky, not yet reaching it's light blue color that it had for most of the day. It even colored the roof, and the cats themselves.

"Wow," Lynx murmured under her breath.

"I know," Moon meowed, nudging her gently with a paw. After a few heartbeats, Lynx spoke up again.

"How did you know that I didn't like Twoleg Place?"

"All you do in the Alley is sleep," Moon meowed. "It wasn't a hard guess." Lynx nodded, looking at the light and at Twoleg Place. The two she-cats sat there until the sun was over the horizon, at which point Moon stood and stretched. "C'mon," she meowed. "There's still a few cool things in our part of Twoleg Place that I have to show you."

The two cats started padding forward, towards the stairs. They made their way down and reached the last platform, Lynx looking down at the ground with a bit of fear in her stomach. "It's not hard to jump down, it's actually a lot easier than coming up," Moon meowed. She leapt and landed gracefully on the ground before she looked up at Lynx. "Come on, you can do this!" Lynx took a deep breath before she leapt down onto the concrete.

"Better?" Moon asked. Lynx nodded. "It's easier after the first time." The older she-cat led the way out of the alley. "I hope you don't mind getting your paws wet," she meowed.

"Why?"

"You'll see." The she-cat made her way around the twists and turns of Twoleg Place before stopping in front of a brown-tiled opening in the buildings. In the center was a fountain surrounded by trees, which Moon made a bee-line for. Lynx padded slowly after her, watching as the she-cat leapt onto one tier of the fountain. Moon turned her head to look at her. "It's just your paws getting wet."

Lynx leapt up next to her Teacher, her Spirit Gem bouncing against her chest and water washing over her paws. Moon led the way up the rest of the tiers, up until the top. Lynx followed on her trail, sitting next to her mentor on the dry surface, watching as water leaked out from the under the smooth rock below them.

"This place reminds me a bit of my old home," Moon meowed.

"What was your old home?" Lynx asked. Her Teacher shook her head.

"You'd rather not know," Moon told her. "It was nice and all, up until, well… let's just say that we found out something that sort of teared apart our group, and…" the bicolor she-cat trailed off. Lynx just nodded, turning her eyes to the trees.

"Come on, there's one more thing that I have to show you." Moon led the way off of the fountain, Lynx at her heels. She decided that she wasn't so fond of the feeling of water clinging to her fur, but she liked the fountain and the trees. Hopefully, the water would dry off soon. Moon led the way towards the other side of their part of Twoleg Place. Lynx perked her ears as a new noise reached her ears.

It was nice: there was the sound of the Twoleg's mouth movements, but made into a sound that was nice to hear. There was also something playing below it. Moon led the way through the Twoleg's legs, weaving through them with Lynx on her heels. The Trainee was eager to see what was making the sound below the nice mouth movements.

The Twoleg was holding a wooden… thing. It had a long neck and metal strings, and a curvy body. The Twoleg would press down and strum on the strings, and in doing that it would play a different sound. It harmonized nicely with the sweet mouth movements.

"You know, I didn't like Twoleg Place that much either, when I first came here," Moon meowed, sitting down right in front of the Twoleg. Lynx sat next to her, her ears perked and eyes fixed on the wood-thing. Her golden eyes glittered with interest. "But, I wandered around our part of it, and found a few places that I like. And, this. Apparently, it's called music."

"I really like it," Lynx meowed, watching as the Twoleg looked at them with a wide smile on their face.

Moon purred. "I do, too."

 **Moon is based off of my cat, named Moon Unit, after the actual person, Moon Unit Zappa. Moon Unit the cat is a boy, I just wanted a genderbend. Moon Unit the person has a sister named Diva Muffin and a brother named Dweezil.**


	3. Chapter Three

"Moon took me around her favorite parts of Twoleg Place! And showed me this thing called 'music'!" Lynx meowed, happily explaining her day to a tired Dusk. Dusk let out a yawn, but nodded along with her.

"That sounds-" she yawned again. "Great, Lynx."

"Hey, what's got you so happy, Lynx?" the black she-cat turned her head to see Trinity, with a blue-gray she-cat with blue eyes at her side named Vida. A blue Spirit Gem was hanging around Vida's neck.

"Moon took me around her favorite parts of Twoleg Place!" she repeated.

"What are those?" Vida ased, an interested look on her face.

"A roof, a fountain, and she took me to see a Twoleg playing music on a wood-thing!" Lynx meowed.

"Really?" Trinity asked, tilting her head. "I would have thought they'd be more interesting."

"I liked them!" Lynx defended.

"How can you _not_ like music, Trinity?" Vida asked.

"I like music!" Trinity meowed. "I was talking about a roof and a fountain."

"What's music?" Dusk asked, tilting her head with a lost look on her head.

"You'll find out soon," Vida and Trinity meowed in sync.

"Living in Twoleg Place, every cat accepts that music is a way of life," Vida added.

"You're usually introduced to it on your first or second day of training," Trinity put in.

Dusk let out another yawn. Vida purred. "You guys must be pretty tired," she gave another look to the strangely hyperactive Lynx, "or, you will be."

"I'll take you to your nest, Dusk," Trinity offered. Dusk nodded, standing and trailing after the older Trainee.

"Moon seems like a good Teacher," Vida meowed. Lynx nodded.

"She's great! I bet she'll be amazing when she's teaching me to hunt and fight!"

The two she-cats talked until Lynx was exhausted, which didn't take long. Vida led the younger cat to the Trainee's den.

The den, itself, was just a hole in the wall. Pipes, bricks, and wood made up the walls of their den. Their nests were any comfortable material that they could find that littered the floor. You could flop down and sleep where ever, which Lynx did.

She opened her eyes to see a gray tom in front of her, one that had a lighter chest, muzzle and belly with darker paws, ears and tail. His eyes were a bright, acid green, and she was surprised to see the lack of a Spirit Gem.

"Who are you?" Lynx asked, taking a step back from the tom in front of her.

"That's not _too_ important," he purred. "How about you call me… oh, yes!" the tom cheered to himself. "Call me _Lazarith._ "

"Um… okay, Lazarith, why am I here?"

"You're here," Lynx turned on her heel to see another cat, "because the so-called _Great Spirit_ is trying to kill your curiosity." The she-cat's fur was a deep, blood red with a series of white ringlets running up her legs and tail, along with one on each of her ears. Her eyes were a bright gold, and she also didn't have a Spirit Gem. "And how could we stand for that?" she finished with a smirk. She was lounging on a platform above Lynx, making her crane her neck to look up at her.

Lynx swallowed. "And you are?"

"Feel free to call me Tempter."

"What curiosity?" Lynx asked, quickly turning her eyes from Lazarith to Tempter.

"Oh, you haven't found it yet," Lazarith meowed. "But when you do…"

"Your _Great Spirit_ ," Tempter growled the words like an insult, "will do his best to kill it."

"I'm guessing you know him?" Lynx asked, looking at the cats carefully.

"Fairly well," Lazarith meowed, padding past her and leaping up to the platform that Tempter was lounging on. "And we _live_ for making his creations happy," he added, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

Lynx looked down at the Spirit Gem around her neck: the symbol of her worship of the Great Spirit and her loyalty to her Gang. It was glowing in her dream. She lifted her head, looking up at the two cats. "Then what should I do when he tries to kill my curiosity?" she challenged.

The two smiled widely, almost too widely. "Ignore all omens," they meowed.

"That's it?" she asked.

"Why do you think Moon is your Teacher?" Tempter asked her.

"If that's his precaution-" she cut herself off. She had already shown her her highlights of Twoleg Place.

"Now it's clicking!" Lazarith cheered.

"You know, Lynx," Tempter meowed, lifting her head a bit. "I think that all three of us will eventually be nice, close friends."

Lynx let out a yawn as she got shaken awake, looking up at a ginger tom with amber eyes, and an amber Spirit Gem hanging around his neck. "C'mon, Lynx," Phoenix meowed. "Training."

* * *

The Great Spirit let out a growl, his claws scoring across the concrete. Now that the Little Devils had gotten to the she-cat, keeping her confined to Twoleg Place would only be harder.

"I'll do whatever it takes," he muttered to himself, forcing his fur to lie flat. He rose to his paws, padding deeper into Twoleg Place, his eyes scouring through the shadows of alleys and overhangs. He came across a cat that he recognized was a former member of Darkened Shadows.

The cat was a ginger tom with a light brown stripe running down his back. His eyes were a bright blue, and the Spirit Gem hanging around his chest was glowing.

"Alpine," the Great Spirit called. The tom turned and his eyes widened, quickly turning and bounding towards the other tom.

"Yes?" Alpine asked.

"I have a favor I need to ask of you," the Great Spirit meowed. His ice blue eyes left no space to answer 'no', even if any of his worshippers would think of it.

"Anything you need," the ginger and brown tom responded, his ears perked to listen.

 **Yes. The Little Devils. That's what I'm calling them. They're names are also nicknames for the Devil. I can hear you laughing, but I think it's cool.**


	4. Chapter Four

Lynx padded out of the alley after her Teacher, her tail swishing back and forth behind her. "Today is your _real_ tour of Twoleg Place," Moon meowed. "Yesterday was just a little taste."

"Is this how training is always going to be with you?" Lynx asked.

"Hopefully!" Moon purred. Her tail tip twitched as she led the way through their home. Lynx turned her eyes to the sky, watching as it turned fro a dark blue color to being stained orange. "If you keep looking at the sky, you'll have no idea where we'll going." Her eyes quickly snapped downwards. Moon let out a 'mrow' of laughter. "Don't worry, we'll go to that roof again when we're done with the tour. The sunset looks better in my opinion, anyway." Lynx nodded.

Moon turned a corner. "The quickest way to learn your way around Twoleg Place, or any new place, really, is to see landmarks." Moon explained. "Some cats prefer to make a map in their head, but if you use landmarks instead, when you get lost you'll eventually come across a place that you'll recognize and then you'll know where to head next."

"Are you saying that I'll still get lost?" Lynx asked.

"On your first moon or so? No doubt." Moon stopped at an intersection where a few Twolegs were waiting. Monsters were speeding across the street in front of them, but soon enough the large creatures slowed to a stop. The Twolegs waiting with the cats started walking, and the Teacher and Trainee pair padded at their heels.

When they reached the other side, Moon turned into an alley and gestured with her tail towards a painted wall. "This," she meowed, "is one of my landmarks."

"What's it close to?" Lynx asked, tilting her head.

"Just a hunting space," Moon responded. The bicolor she-cat padded a bit farther into the alley. "Turn left here, and you'll be in a wider alley. Birds fly down there all the time." Lynx nodded in response, flicking her tail as she followed after her mentor to look into the alley and, hopefully, see a bird.

Nothing but trash bags. Her ears drooped in disappointment.

Moon purred. "Maybe in the next hunting space," she meowed, leading the way out of the alley and back towards the street. Lynx bounded after her Teacher, the sun starting to stain her surroundings orange.

The pair padded down the cement. "This part of Twoleg Place is fairly old. Apparently, the first members of Darkened Shadows had a love of old things. Golden Sunsets lives in a place that's full of Twolegs: it's just full of nests and sleeping monsters-" Moon shuddered. "I've only been there once, before Owl and I joined Darkened Shadows. I have no idea how they stand the paranoia. Storming Clouds' area is a bit newer, and the buildings are taller, but from what I've seen, there are so many Twolegs and monsters there's barely any space for a cat. That's not even bringing in the dogs. And, finally, Burnt Ashes lives in this area that more like ours, but more… spread out, I guess. I _could_ live there, if I tried, but I wouldn't feel secure enough without having something to surround me."

Lynx tried imagining herself living in any of the other parts of Twoleg Place moon had described. The cats of Golden Sunsets were known for being fast, which probably made for a quick escape from monsters suddenly being roused from sleep, or Twolegs not liking them on what they thought was their territory. Lynx hated the idea more than she hated living in her own territory.

The cats of Storming Clouds were known for being agile- which explained why they could live in a territory that was as densely packed as Moon described. Out running dogs, she'd been told, required speed, effort, wit, and a bit of fighting; Ra had told her before she started training that if you were patient and quick enough with the street on the busy days, you could just slip between or under the monsters. Still, having to do that often? Lynx couldn't do it.

The cats of Burnt Ashes, though, she hadn't heard much of. Willow told them that they were lazy cats who depended on Twolegs, but Lynx and Dusk couldn't believe it. That would make them kittypets, and if there was anything the Gangs were _not_ , it was the Twoleg's playthings. Lynx would stay in Twoleg Place the rest of her life before she let a Twoleg do anything for her, or near her, for that matter.

Who knows what they would try to do to her Spirit Gem.

She turned her eyes to the street, watching the monsters race across the concrete. A leaf fell down from a small tree that they passed, carrying along with the wind until it dipped down towards the ground, just in time to be crushed under the weight of one of a monster's large paws.

Ignore all omens, Lazarith and Tempter had said.

Was that an omen?

Lynx turned her head in front of her and kept padding forward.

* * *

"There's one place I don't want you going," Moon meowed, all traces of laughter and every semblance of a joke gone from her voice. The two padded across an empty street in a quieter part of their territory, the concrete turning to grass under their paws. Lynx had to pause at the feeling: her pads were use to the unforgiving, either too hot or too cold stone, and were now faced with this soft surface. "The forest is a dangerous place, you know," her Teacher added, forcing Lynx to turn her attention back to the bicolor she-cat.

Her Teacher was sitting down, staring into a large patch of distance trees with a look on her face that Lynx couldn't read. "What do you mean?" Lynx asked. "There's nothing in the forest but squirrels and rabbits, isn't there? If anything, it would help the Gang."

Moon scoffed. "Oh, right, no one wonders around here," she got a gentle nudge to the shoulder. "Territory is pretty sacred for you, isn't it?"

"What do you mean 'for you'?" Lynx asked, folding her ear back in confusion. "You're part of the Gang."

"Well, yeah, but I haven't quite adjusted to saying I am yet," Moon explained. "Either way, back to the topic." The older she-cat turned her hazel eyes on Lynx. "In the forest, there is a group of dangerous cats. They've weathered the elements, grown up with the feeling of the earth under their paws and the wind in their fur, and they have a larger group and more prey."

"How do you know?" Lynx asked, narrowing her eyes up at her Teacher.

"You could say that Owl and I are… acquainted, with them," Moon told her. "The Clan is a dangerous group of cats. While I think that the Gangs themselves are stronger, we have some weaknesses that the Clan does not."

"The Spirit Gems?" the Trainee guessed.

Moon nodded. "That's a big one."


End file.
